What's a good cure for sandfly bites
Brenda and John Duff
I feel like my legs are being eaten off below the knees at the moment.
What is the best product on the market to a) repel the little blighters
and b) to soothe the itchiness. Is there any home brew concoctions out
there that eases the suffering caused by the little b*****ds.
Thanks Brenda 8)
Frank van der Hulst
The traditional insect repellant in NZ for years has been "Dimp",
available from chemist's shops & supermarkets, etc. Do not get this
stuff in your eyes (or wipe your eyes after applying it).
Try Calomine lotion (available from a chemist's) to soothe the
itchiness.
This probably doesn't help you, but at a West Coast school they mixed
Dettol and (I think) castor oil as a home-made repellant. They mixed
this up in industrial quantities. I gather that West Coasters develop an
immunity to sand fly bites after a while.
Some-one else once said that sandflies fly along about 2 feet
above the ground until they find something. Therefore you should
sit at least 3 feet above the ground. As you might imagine, this led to
a rather comical situation of about a dozen canoeists (sans repellant)
sitting on fenceposts waiting for their transport to arrive. It did seem
to more or less work. I guess this ties in with your below-the-knees
attacks.
I did try using net curtaining as an insect net on a tramping trip once.
However, they seemed to be attracted to the stuff (maybe because it was
white). It was most effective when I draped it over a bush near me.
Try to keep cool... I think they're attracted by scent. Colour too, I
think... blues attract them, greens don't. Sand flies live in the bush
on rotting vegetation... try moving to somewhere away from the bush.
Anyway, you shouldn't be grizzling about sandflies... it's the mosquitos
that are the big problem :-) In particular, I recommend you don't sleep
(well, you won't be able to anyway) near a place called Bishop's Folly
on the West Coast. I discovered there that mosquitos *can* bite your
face through a shirt, and that you can't sleep with your fingers holding
your shirt clear of your face.
Best of luck,
Frank.
--
Frank van der Hulst |You know you've landed gear-up
Embedded Software Engineer |when it takes full power to taxi.
PEC(NZ) Ltd |
Marton, New Zealand. |
Rachel Priebee
>
> I feel like my legs are being eaten off below the knees at the moment.
> What is the best product on the market to a) repel the little blighters
> and b) to soothe the itchiness. Is there any home brew concoctions out
> there that eases the suffering caused by the little b*****ds.
I think the only cure is amputation! Cortisone creams don't stop
the itching for long at all.
Prevention is the only real solution - even then, there's always that
wee spot you missed, or the little blighter crawled up inside your
shorts and bit you on the bit you on the ass, where of course you
didn't put repellant 'cos it's greasy and stains your clothes.
There should be a law against sandflies and mosquitoes!
I think someone once defined paranoia as hearing a mosquito buzzing
around you in a completely dark room! How many people have tried to
sleep completely under the sheet on a hot summer night because they
can hear a mozzie dive-bombing them?!
Rachel
Cosmik Debris
thed...@central.co.nz (Brenda and John Duff) wrote:
> Hi there,
>
> I feel like my legs are being eaten off below the knees at the moment.
> What is the best product on the market to a) repel the little blighters
> and
A brick wrapped in a sock works well.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Cosmik "I owe money, therefore I am" Debris
Ross Allan
fra...@pec.co.nz (Frank van der Hulst) wrote:
>In <4a4uar$q...@central.co.nz>, thed...@central.co.nz (Brenda and John Duff)
writes:
>>I feel like my legs are being eaten off below the knees at the moment.
>
>Dettol and (I think) castor oil as a home-made repellant. They mixed
>this up in industrial quantities. I gather that West Coasters develop an
>immunity to sand fly bites after a while.
When I was a kid, many moons ago, my family used a mixture of olive oil and
dettol mixed in equal parts to repel the brutes. This will keep sandflies away
but tends to lose its effectiveness after swimming.
To stop the itch, we used to dab on 'Eau de Cologne'. The evaporation took
away the itch.
Incidentally, to stop sunburn we used to use an equal mixture of olive oil and
vinegar. I don't know why but it worked.
You can imagine what the smell was like on a Sunny West Coast day.
It has been observed that beer drinkers are rarely bitten by sand flies or any
other insect for that matter. I have also met people who have travelled
through Africa and swear by Multivitamin Tablets. The effective vitamin was
one of the 'B's.
Cheers
Ross Allan
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Mark Ogilvie
>
> The traditional insect repellant in NZ for years has been "Dimp",
> available from chemist's shops & supermarkets, etc. Do not get this
> stuff in your eyes (or wipe your eyes after applying it).
And Dimp eats a lot of plastics, including plastics used in some sunglasses :-( so
beware. It also tastes revolting. We picked up a product called "Rid" while in
aussie once, and that was very good. Haven't seen it here though.
> Try Calomine lotion (available from a chemist's) to soothe the
> itchiness.
Solacaine is good, as it has a local anesthetic. Otherwise I use Histofax (contains
calomine, and (other?) antihistamines).
Sandflies don't like bright sunlight so sit in the bright sun. But then you get
sunburnt.
I saw a wonderful display in one of the huts on the Milford track. It was a dead
huhu beetle (the ones about 5cm long, pretty ugly, real mean looking) pinned to a
post in the hut, with a message below it claiming that this was the largest sandfly
seen in this area, shot near this hut in 19xx.
cheers
"It is a bad thing not to be able
Mark O. to take a joke. Worse, not to take
a divine joke;"
Resource Information Unit - C.S. Lewis
Ministry of Commerce
Wellington, New Zealand I do not speak for the Ministry of Commerce
David Pate
Skin-So-Soft which is a bath oil product will keep them from biting.
Doesn't really work on anything else that I know of, but it is far
superior to any insect repellent I've ever seen and have been using it
faithfully for about 16 years now. Hope this helps. David
David Slack
>
>Anyway, you shouldn't be grizzling about sandflies... it's the mosquitos
>that are the big problem :-)
I'll say. They've been back around here for about a month now, and I'm sick
and tired of them already. Coils don't seem to scare them. Neither does:
barbecue smoke, incense, repellant candles or loud music.
Anyone have some good tips for keeping them at bay without showering in Dimp?
David Slack Speech Writing
Devonport, Auckland, New Zealand 64 9 445 3939
http://www.iconz.co.nz/commercial/speech_writer
Home of the Automatic Wedding Speech Writer
Rob Docherty
>
> I'll say. They've been back around here for about a month now, and I'm
sick
> and tired of them already. Coils don't seem to scare them. Neither does:
> barbecue smoke, incense, repellant candles or loud music.
>
> Anyone have some good tips for keeping them at bay without showering in
Dimp?
>
>
>
>
> David Slack Speech Writing
> Devonport, Auckland, New Zealand 64 9 445 3939
I found those little plug in repellers with the heated mat on them did the
trick. That was in Grey Lynn and Herne Bay, though, maybe they are more
virulent in Devonport !.
As for soothing the bites, I found a product called 'Stingose' did the trick
quite well.
Regards,
Rob.
--
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
| rob docherty e-mail....rob@glascon.demon.co.uk |
| glaschu consulting limited |
| england & new zealand quality systems analysis & design |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Marina Voorend
On 07/12 David Manley wrote : (re B Vitamin to repel vitamins)
>I ask a pharamacist about this recently and they said B1 and that taking
>multi-vitamins wasn't effective. I also have a friend who says its B12,
>so take your pick. The thing with the vitamin theory is that you have
>to start taking it something like two weeks in advance . I had the
>perfect opportunity to try it recently as I was down on the Coast taking
>some pommy friends around. I started taking it about 10 days before
>hand but then managed to misplace the tablets (which taste awful) until
>we were on the Coast :(. End result was that I got bitten a bit though
>not as much as usual and remarkably less than my friends. So there may be
>some truth in the vitamin theory after all.
>
>David.
David, With the Vitamin theory, have you identified which Vitamin B?
Rob Simpson
>Dunno if it is a good cure, but I remember 20 years ago my grandfather
>(a West Coaster) mixing a few drops of meths into honey and making us
>have that.Can't remember much about the sandflies, but can still taste
>the meths!
Whew. Was he by chance once a resident of various park benches?
Seriously though, not a preventative, but good if you forgot your
favorite repellant and ended up in Golden Bay on a warm evening. Dock
leaves rubbed onto the affected area go a long way toward relieving
the itch.
Also good for stinging nettles, flea bites etc.
Rob & all the rest of the tribe.
Shaun Scott
edi...@ee.net
david...@wanganui.planet.org.nz (David Pate) wrote:
**Brenda, I have found that an Amway product (not an Amway dealer) called
**Skin-So-Soft which is a bath oil product will keep them from biting.
**Doesn't really work on anything else that I know of, but it is far
**superior to any insect repellent I've ever seen and have been using it
**faithfully for about 16 years now. Hope this helps. David
That's
AVON
Robin Klitscher
>I saw a wonderful display in one of the huts on the Milford track. It was a dead
>huhu beetle (the ones about 5cm long, pretty ugly, real mean looking) pinned to a
>post in the hut, with a message below it claiming that this was the largest sandfly
>seen in this area, shot near this hut in 19xx.
>
A traveller in Jackson's Bay woke up one night to hear two huge
sandflies discussing whether they would have him here and now, or later
as a takeaway. They decided on the former, because as one said to the
other "if we take him home we'll just lose him to the big guys ....."
--
Robin Klitscher
Wellington ("Harbour City") NZ
David Manley
: David, With the Vitamin theory, have you identified which Vitamin B?
Well only by going on what the pharmasist said, which was vitamin B1,
but seeing I misplaced the tablets when I needed them I can't offer an
opinion as to whether it really works.
HTH.
David.
Rob Simpson
>> Some-one else once said that sandflies fly along about 2 feet
>> above the ground until they find something. Therefore you should
>> sit at least 3 feet above the ground.
>Levitate! But the real answer is -
>Impermeability!
>Fit peg-legs or wear Julia Roberts's boots from 'Pretty Woman'. Or dip
>your legs in latex solution.
Better yet and a sure fire sandfly preventative.
Don't go outside.
Don't open windows or doors.
Well it does work.
Rob
Or get a job like mine. Sysadmin. You never see the sun.